Narutopolis
by ShindouWS
Summary: Set after Sasuke's departure to Orochimaru. Kiba and Hinata resolve to become part of the Akatsuki to save Naruto from within said organization by any means possible.
1. Chapter 01: Nightlights

**Narutopolis**

Chapter 01: Nightlights

Rating: T  
Pairing: Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto  
Notes: This one's fun to write. Chapter 2's almost finished. Expect jutsus weirder than sexy no jutsu and Kisame's attempt to mimic Dane Cook. I'm a very honest person.  
Disclaimer: I'm on my way to perfecting this 'steal the Naruto' jutsu. Till then, Naruto isn't mine.

* * *

"Where's that tiresome boy?" 

For she had the tiresome boy somehow out of her sight. The place was overcrowded and would only be more so soon; the Hokage finish the speech; the fireworks set off in about half an hour; and she had a fixed number of seats reserved for herself, her husband, and her children to dine at a certain restaurant afterwards. And then, spoke Hitomi Inuzuka to her husband, "Run and find him... but make sure to come back before the fireworks set off no matter what. We'll be waiting in this place."

Said tiresome boy was, in actuality, by no means a boy—and he disliked to be addressed as a boy—and he would never do so on fellow ninjas at his age; for, although he was still fifteen years old, as he had undergone many missions requiring maturity beyond his age and all the trainings required to fulfill them, he preferred to infer from that notion that he deserved to be called a man.

He was about to tell his family that he wanted to buy some snack when he realised that they no longer were to be found anywhere nearby. He stiffened at the thought of being lost, for he believed that only kids got lost. With the amount of people around, he knew that he could never possibly use his nose to trace his family by their scent—and too many kinds of scent had melded into what seemed like a pile of sinful filth which could cause sudden unconsciousness on himself at once should he activate his specialised nose.

It was not to hinder his whim to buy some snack, however, for, judging from his mother's tendency, he thought, once they realised that he was missing, she would send his father for him. Glancing about the crowd in search of his family again for the last time, albeit unavailingly, he stopped himself at a takoyaki stall, noticing the aroma that came floating in the air. Around the stall were people forming a circle while waiting for their orders; and seemingly to him as if they were cordoning off the place, he immediately had half a wit to give up the idea of buying, for he disliked to wait—in especial for something not of great significance.

Having lived as a ninja for—how many years now? over five, he felt even in the midst of a traffic, or a crowd, quite used to feel alone and be fairly aware of his surroundings to the point of instinctively examining them, he reasoned, as again he thought of how tranquil his feeling was to be in this hanabi festival. The small, vivid light sources through the whole place—the trees, the stalls, the poles, and the strings above were hung with nightlights; the colourful yukatas people around him were wearing; the stalls and the items or services in which they sold; the haphazard interactions; the tramp; the lively jingles; and whatever else perceptible, as a whole, was what he was enjoying and smiling about; the Hidden Leaf; this joyous moment of July; several hours towards his own birthday. He liked to be able to enjoy it!—ludicrous probably, he thought then, but he preferred to think that he was lucky to be able to, for he doubted that just any person had what it took to do so.

It was July the sixth. He would probably celebrate his birthday on the morrow if his relatives or friends remembered about it—he knew that his parents had been reluctant, albeit slightly, to abandon their business to attend this festival; and once said festival had finished, said business would again hold their attention so completely that he, sliding his hands into his trousers' pockets, lifting his face, vaguely gazing at the sky, and breathing out audibly, preferred to think in advance that it was very possible for them to forget it. His parents could be very attentive of their children at times; but work easily held them prisoners—typical workaholics, he thought.

Suddenly appearing in his eyes was a grinning blond—the notoriously loud and goofy Naruto. He could sense the smell of ramen lingering about him—the very smell which had become a sort of trademark for him, and it was strong enough to be smelt in the radius of three feet even amidst this crowd without the help of a specialised nose.

"Good evening to you, Kiba!" said Naruto, as excitedly as how he seemingly of necessity reacted to any other things.

"Howdo," Kiba replied, noticing that he then was to walk with Naruto.

"Where's your dog?" asked Naruto, glancing back and forth around Kiba to reassure himself that said dog was not with him—for no reason in particular.

"He's resting at home 'cause of the wounds that he got on our last mission," said Kiba, glancing at Naruto midway through. "You're here alone?"

"Nah—I came with Iruka but he's near the stage over there 'cause he's gotta tune into Tsunade's speech and all; so, bored, I went to eat by myself," said Naruto. "He would probably be angry anyway had he known I was eating ramen again. What about you?"

"I, um, got separated from my family," Kiba said, rather regretfully. "And my father's probably looking for me now at my mum's order. Most married men are like that—ordered around by their wife."

"I can imagine you running errands for your wife in the future," said Naruto.

"If I ever, ever had a wife," said Kiba, sneering in the direction of Naruto.

"Instead of a dog as a spouse?" asked Naruto, snickering as he imagined the thought of Kiba running errands for a dog.

"You and your sick mind," snapped Kiba, his forefinger prodding Naruto in the head.

"Hey Kiba," said Naruto, his blond hair bouncing as he walked. "Have you eaten?"

"Dinner? No—my mum must've reserved some seats at some fancy restaurant for us to dine together later," said Kiba. "Probably a sushi restaurant again."

He then wondered if Naruto had just briefly puckered his brow and pouted upon hearing his answer. He glanced more at Naruto's face before saying, "But I'm rather hungry now. And it's my birthday tomorrow, so I'll let you have the privilege to entertain my stomach tonight."

"That's a complicated way to say that you want me to treat you to dinner," said Naruto, furrowing his brows. Looking Kiba perplexedly in the eyes, he said, "Wait here."

He swiftly walked towards a balloon-selling person a short way ahead; although due to the persons flocking the way, Kiba, standing still curiously, could not see what he was up to. In Naruto's eyes were balloons of different colours and shapes, including the pink heart, blue dolphin, white spiral, et cetera; and Naruto immediately thought that the first one was not appropriate, the second one would have been better given to Iruka, and the third one for himself. It was not before too long when he noticed a khaki dog-shaped balloon and immediately pointed at the object which he thought was perfect for the Inuzuka heir.

He walked back to the place at which he had left Kiba with his right hand carrying aforementioned balloon carefully probably so as to not have the string get caught by anything in the way. Seeing what Naruto was bringing and its shape, Kiba started chuckling.

"This is for you," said Naruto gleefully, handing the balloon. "Happy birthday in advance."

"Thank you kindly," said Kiba in-between his chuckles, grasping the string attached to the balloon.

"Hey—I think the fireworks are setting off any minute now—meaning your belly will have to wait," said Naruto, turning into the direction of the stage from which most of the fireworks would be set off.

Even from afar, Naruto could hear that Tsunade was no longer giving a speech. Aside from glancing at his own watch, he did nothing but stand still expectantly in the midst of a crowd which was then, having had seen Naruto's still figure, aware of the time, beginning to as well settle themselves and look in the direction of the stage.

Kiba, on the other hand, suddenly felt that something terrible was about to happen soon. He was sure that the Hokage, aware of what danger the Hidden Leaf was facing, had stationed many Anbu members in all strategic places to secure the area and to supervise the progress of the festival; but the feeling was really strong, and he had no choice but to have actions in advance.

"Naruto," spoke Kiba, grasping spoken boy's arm while hurriedly running—he was not sure where to run, but he hoped that being mobile would be safer.

"Wha—what's wrong?" said Naruto, increasing his pace to match Kiba's.

"Nothing. Let's try to not get caught by my father," said Kiba, giving Naruto a grin. "It's the hide-and-seek that you love so much. We're hiding."

"Why all of the sudden?" asked Naruto, unsure if Kiba was being honest. Seeing nothing wrong about it, however, he complied. "What about the fireworks?"

"Try to watch it while running," said Kiba, not giving much thought to it. "Your apartment's nearby, isn't it? Let's stop by it for a bit so I could put this balloon down—running at speed like this is bound to cause it to burst."

Soon enough they began setting off the fireworks. Fireworks of different exploding colours and shapes continuously sparked in the dark, cloudless, starry sky, effortlessly decorating it with what seemed like short-lived stars; followed by people shouting, "Tabaya!"

Glancing backwards, Naruto gave what he saw a grin. It was not often that he had the chance to free himself from any aggravation—from having to worry what Orochimaru might do to Sasuke, from having to be continuously in life-and-death circumstances—for having to be alert of Akatsuki, for working on missions assigned, for being a ninja. Times like that often reminded him of himself when he was a boy, enviously watching other kids cling to their parents and happily share whatever it had been that parents and kids could share—it was times like that which made it seem really clear for Naruto that he had missed what many other kids had had—having parents. He no longer was sad about it, however. Iruka had always been acting as his parent since he had known; and he was grateful to him for it. He always watched the fireworks together with Iruka in the previous years, but this time he had somehow managed to be able to enjoy it with someone else—and he somewhat hoped that his companion was enjoying it as much as he was.

Having run swiftly through places down the building roofs, they settled themselves in front of Naruto's apartment room. Naruto unlocked the door effortlessly with his eyes still fixed at the fireworks in the sky behind. He opened it and let Kiba in.

"Sorry for the trouble," said Kiba briefly, stepping inside the room whose light Naruto had forgotten to turn off before going to the festival. He ignored the mess and proceeded to tie his balloon's string to the back support of a dining chair. "Let's get outta here now."

"Why? Isn't this the best hiding place? Your parents wouldn't possibly think of checking this place."

"I thought you wanted to treat me to dinner?" asked Kiba, glad that he could quickly found that excuse—quick enough to not give Naruto any moment to notice Kiba's uncertainty.

"Oh, right," said Naruto. "So where do you wanna eat?"

"On second thought," spoke Kiba upon realising that they were being watched by some Anbu members—meaning the Hokage had stationed several Anbu members to specifically watch over Naruto and his apartment. "Let's just stay here. You have something edible in your fridge, right?"

"It's not like you to be indecisive," said Naruto. "Which one is it now?"

"Belt up. I'm more considerate when it comes to what I want to do on my birthday—and I can, can't I?" said Kiba, proceeding himself towards the kitchen which was directly adjacent to the living room and the dining room with only half walls to partition each.

"H-hey!" called Naruto, closing the door. "You can't just barge in and pillage my fridge like that."

"Why not?" asked Kiba.

"Yes—why not?" a third voice came, sending a chill down both Naruto and Kiba's spine.

Kiba turned around; his eyes focused at the two guys in cloaks with swirling cloud patterns that were lounging in the sofa. They were Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Noticing the dangerous presence of two Akatsuki members in front of him, Kiba ran in the direction of Naruto in an attempt to escape together.

In a glance, however, Kisame was already in front of them, blocking the only politically-correct way to get out the house, flaunting his humongous sword—the Samehada. "Running away will cause thousands of people die at once."

"What do you mean?" snapped Naruto.

"We've sneaked many of our subordinates in disguise as Anbu members to prepare the summoning of gigantic monsters which will come forth in the festival area on a mere hand signal of mine, or of Itachi," said Kisame, grinning.

Kiba immediately realised that it was no longer an option to run away—that they were stuck. Having a stance, Kiba spoke in a collected manner, "How are to be sure that you're not gonna do anything to them if we surrender?"

"You can't be. But Akatsuki never lies," said Kisame. "You wouldn't imagine Itachi to be the type to lie, would you?"

"Maybe not, but you," said Kiba.

"Enough talking, Kisame," said Itachi, leaving the sofa. "We have no business with the Inuzuka heir. Take Naruto and leave."

Kisame swiftly seized Naruto by the collar and pulled him quite easily, despite the struggle he was giving, ignoring the presence of Kiba.

"Wait!" called Kiba upon seeing the retreating figure of the Akatsuki members.

"What is it?" asked Itachi, turning back at Kiba.

"Don't tell me that you're gonna try to stop us here," said Kisame. "Unless you have a thousand-year-old jutsu powerful enough to shut all of our power down in an instant, just forget it."

"No—I... I want to work for Akatsuki," said Kiba, his eyes focused at Itachi's.

"Kiba!" yelled Naruto. "What the—"

"For what reason?" asked Itachi.

"If I stay in this place, I'll never be as strong as you," said Kiba, attempting to pull all his confidence off.

"What makes you think you will become stronger with us?" asked Itachi. "We treat our subordinates the exact same way we treat ants."

"I will train under you and perform field missions," said Kiba, well aware that his answer was funny. He also knew that the reason why Itachi had not asked his loyalty was because he had the power to eliminate him the exact same way he did on ants, thereby deeming him insignificant.

"Very well—come along," said Itachi, turning round.

"Wait—Itachi!" spoke Kisame, looking at his fellow Akatsuki member. "Are you sure he's not just trying to save Naruto? He won't be able to do it, for certain, but—"

"But what?" asked Itachi. "He will act as a diversion for us to escape the expert eyes of Anbu members if needed."

"Well—okay. He looks fairly bright, I guess," said Kisame, eyeing Kiba, snickering. "I might actually train you if you could prove yourself useful. For now, let's get outta here."

"What are you doing!" Naruto yelled at Kiba. "If you're trying to save me—"

"I'm not trying to save you," said Kiba, walking alongside Kisame and Itachi, turning off the room's lamp. "Life's boring without any challenge—that's all."

Giving a hand signal, Itachi began to swiftly run alongside Kisame who was carrying Naruto, followed by Kiba, effortlessly jumping from one roof to another in the direction of the village's border. Seeing the hand signal, Kiba tensed slightly, wondering if the monsters would come forth soon.

"It's a signal for them to retreat," said Itachi. "It'll take approximately two days to reach the base. We will stop by the fire forest in an hour; until then, you're free to return to your residence to retrieve your dog. Go in this direction to the Fire forest—we'll notice you."

"Thanks." Kiba was fast to trust Itachi. He stopped midway and changed his course to the direction of his family's residence.

"You seem to trust the brat," said Kisame.

"I think he's not lying," said Itachi. "Besides, it will not hurt to have an apprentice."

"Yeah, right," said Kisame who was then laughing. He began to think that the idea of having an apprentice was not too bad. A person to master both his and Itachi's jutsus would be upbeat, he thought.

Kiba himself was confused at himself. He knew that when he offered the idea of becoming Itachi's apprentice he was quite serious, in spite of the fact that he had not meant to be one at first—he merely wanted to try to stay at Naruto's side in order that he could save him whenever possible. He did not know yet how, but as long as there was a chance, he would try his best. Anyone would be happy to train under Itachi after all, he thought, even if it meant that he was about to lose his humanity and freedom, for he might end up having to murder the innocents in the way—he might even end up having to fight against his village for all he knew, although he would refuse to do so.

After ten minutes of constant running, he arrived in front of his residence. It was a spacious place with two separate buildings—the left-hand side one for the Inuzuka clan's members while the right-hand side one to shelter the dogs. Aware that his family was still not yet at home—and he was glad for it, he was about to go to the right one when he sensed the smell of his teammate approaching—Hyuuga Hinata.

"Hinata?" spoke Kiba, turning in the direction of Hinata who was then standing near the stone fence of his home.

"Ki-Kiba-kun, a-are you an Akatsuki spy?" asked Hinata, quite straightforwardly.

"Wha—how did you—no," said Kiba. "I'm not a spy. Aha—so you used your Byakugan on us, eh?"

"Y-yes," said Hinata. "Na-Naruto is with them?"

"Quite right," answered Kiba, rather worried about his current situation—what with being caught by Hinata. He stepped forward to face Hinata and said, "Sorry, Hinata—I couldn't save him 'cause they threatened us that they would kill everyone in the festival—well, it's not like I could stand a chance against two Akatsuki members. You should just inform Hokage about this."

"Wh-what about you?" asked Hinata.

"I'll go with them. I'll think of a way to save Naruto from the within," answered Kiba. "Don't worry."

To Kiba's surprise, Hinata was not surprised. It was as if her Byakugan could detect the movement of his lips when he was talking to Itachi about it, he suspected. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I come with you?"

"What?" Kiba asked in disbelief. "I-I don't know."

"We-we will have m-more chance of surviving, I-I think," stuttered Hinata. "I-I learnt some medical jutsu f-from Tsunade-sama a-and—"

"Seems like you're already certain about it," said Kiba, grinning. "Well—I don't know if they'll let me bring you along; but we'll give it a try. Now, if you'll excuse me; I'm gonna get my Akamaru. Also, see if there's anyone coming."

Standing outside Kiba's residence, Hinata used her Byakugan to see through the buildings in the direction of the festival area, noticing Iruka, Kurenai, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and other elite ninjas; thinking just how amusing things had turned out to be; just how much danger she was about to face from then on; and just what actions the Hyuuga clan would take once they had found out about it. She was quite certain with her decision, however, and she was not about to back down anytime soon. Naruto, she thought, would probably be very surprised to see her sneak out the village with Kiba, about to join Akatsuki and have the label of missing nins. For once she was also relieved that she did not have the sealing mark on her forehead, for, if she did, the Hyuuga clan would definitely use it to eliminate her.

She would miss the village, nonetheless, especially after having seen such terrific fireworks setting off, seeing—and probably also being part of—the whole festival.

"Ready?" spoke Kiba, having his dog sleep beneath his black leather coat. He had cast a jutsu to shrink the size of his dog so that he could smuggle it out the village easily.

"Y-yes."

They headed towards the fire forest with Kiba to lead the direction. Hinata's constant use of Byakugan, although tiring, was able to let the both of them choose the safest route to evade the eyes of patrolling ninjas and go past the village's gate. Once they were outside the border of the village of Hidden Leaf and in the Fire forest, two figures approached them swiftly.

"Bringing your girlfriend?" asked Kisame.

"Hi-Hinata!" yelled Naruto. "What are you doing here!"

"Na-Naruto-kun," spoke Hinata.

"No," answered Kiba. "She's not my girlfriend."

"I-I also w-want to join Akatsuki," stuttered Hinata, fairly relieved that she was able to voice that.

Although she tried her best to avoid to look either Kisame or Itachi in the eyes, the both of them could still see the lack of colour in her eyes—that she was from the prestigious clan of Hyuuga.

"Ooh—the Hyuuga princess, isn't it?" said Kisame, observing the eyes of Hinata. "Our leader will be thrilled to see you."

At that, Hinata tensed, for she knew that there was a great deal amount of people that wanted to do something to the precious blood of Hyuuga. She was beginning to think that it was not a really great idea.

"That's unnecessary, Kisame," said Itachi, breaking Hinata's train of thought. "The less people the better."

"But look at her," said Kisame. "She looks like she's about to faint from too much gravity, and yet she has the guts to say that she wants to join Akatsuki."

"Don't underestimate her," spoke Kiba, rather quietly. "She's an accomplished medic-nin who trained under our Hokage and a Hyuuga close-combat specialist."

"Interesting. A Hyuuga who's also specialised in medical jutsu—how deadly can that just be!" said Kisame. "Itachi, I say, we bring her along."

"Very well," said Itachi without even a slight glint of emotion. "But you will put a horizontal line mark on your headband. You will be wearing an Akatsuki uniform. Furthermore, stay away from other Akatsuki members unless you have my or Kisame's consent."

"Y-yes," answered Hinata, untying the headband that she had been wearing around her neck.

Kiba followed suit, revealing the skin on his forehead and the slight hair strands that had been trapped beneath the headband. And then he used his hand to clear his forehead from the strands, motioning his hair backwards.

"Put it down" said Itachi. Upon seeing the headbands being put on the ground, he did some hand seals that called forth fire in the shape of a line across the headband's plates horizontally.

"That's enough ceremony for now—we'll get you the uniform later," said Kisame, grinning. "The both of you are now officially missing-nins, low-rank members of Akatsuki."

To think that Kiba and Hinata would ever think of giving up their headbands to be burnt so—they regretted that they had given them up, for they were the closest to a materialisation for the both of them that symbolised their loyalty to the Hidden Leaf, and how much they loved it. Naruto himself was deep in a brown study, rather gloomy, unable to utter a word. It was quite obvious to him that the both of them were there trying to save him—or at least waiting for a chance to save him; for Hinata would not go so far as to risk her advanced blood limit being exploited by the enemy—Hinata would not have the courage to betray the village if it were not for him, he thought; and Kiba was supposed to celebrate his birthday—was supposed to have fun instead of delving into this ordeal. What about the balloon?--he wondered.

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TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Chapter 02: Chrysalis

**Narutopolis**

Chapter 02: Chrysalis

Rating: T  
Pairing: Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto (I'm starting to like one-sided stuff, in this case Kiba -> Naruto :o but no, they'll see the light.. someday)  
Notes: I'm fairly satisfied with the way this chapter ended, ya know? It's kind of cheesy, but eh. Thank you for the kind reviews, _delusions dreamer_, _MeowMeow Man_!  
Disclaimer: I'm on my way to perfecting this 'steal the Naruto' jutsu. Till then, Naruto isn't mine

* * *

"Where am I?"

For he did not recognise the room in which he had just woken up from a slumber. Normally, his sister would be knocking at the door to wake him up; the smell of breakfast reach his bedroom; but in his eyes then, unlike what he expected, was a dull room without even a single decoration, with a small closet, a chest of drawers, two futons—one for himself, the other for Naruto,—a washbowl, two small windows, and a solid, wooden door leading to God only knows where.

He sat on the futon, looking rather drowsy. Looking to the right at Akamaru, he began caressing its back, feeling rather apologetic to have dragged the dog into betraying their country. Still sleeping on his left was Naruto; and he could see the little bit of sunshine that came through one of the windows falling directly onto his face, thereby accentuating his slight features and, in especial, the disorganised mass of brisk, blond hair. The fact that he had just woken up notwithstanding, he thought it funny how his mind vignetted everything in his eyes but Naruto, if the moment were rather inappropriate to think so.

A train of thought hit him; and he then realised that they were in a village in the border of the River country together with Itachi and Kisame. After quite a long trip from the village of Hidden Leaf, they were lodged in a small, unused house which had been kept clean by the neighbour—the broader of the two Akatsuki's members had paid them a certain amount of money to do so once a week.

Returning his attention back to Naruto, seeing him in his vulnerable state, smiling, suddenly feeling very aged and at the same time invigoratingly young, Kiba intuitively reached his hand for the blond hair (he would not do that if Naruto were awake). The balloon—the startling birthday balloon, he reasoned, must have caused him to become very fond of the boy whose sleeping face, as he watched himself brushing his hair, reminded him of being alone, standing far, far away in a land on which war was nonexistent—it was a juxtapositional image, he supposed—a place a great deal solemn and bright; at the same time forlornly godforsaken. Not that he would ever go to such a place, or even have the reason to, but it was nice to have it imagined. And then he wondered why he was seemingly daydreaming—had he not just woken up? Better to train, he thought. Probably better anything than sitting on a futon, daydreaming over a sleeping, if significantly blond, guy. But it might be the phase, as Kakashi would put, such as all boys—or guys, he added,—went through. It might be reaching puberty. It might be in love with Naruto.

Kisame suddenly opened the door; and Kiba was somewhat glad that he did, for he needed something to distract what he viewed as funny thoughts. And then he withdrew his hand from Naruto's head, frowning slightly at the thought of being caught doing something uncommon for a guy to do to another guy.

"Morning, lovebird! You should see the expression in your face just now," spoke Kisame, leaning against the doorframe. "What a sight! What a heartfelt passion! What a morning! You may continue whatever you were doing!"

Kiba felt rather too embarrassed to do anything at that moment in time. Kisame's reference to the expression in his face caused him again to wonder if he had really grown a feeling for the blond whom was on the verge of death; which was the sole reason why he was there in the first place. Did he like Naruto?—he wondered again.

The doorframe, however, looked like a picture frame which surrounded quite, again, a juxtapositional image in Kiba's mind—figuratively an image of Kisame, a dangerous member of Akatsuki with a great deal of chakra power reputable for both of being a Daimyo killer and of having caused turmoils in different tribes jesting in a theatrical manner about love. Missing nins, Kiba plainly thought, could be amusing.

"I can't see my own face. Um, can I help you?" asked Kiba, resisting his urge to chuckle.

"Rather, I'd think you're incapable of anything but fighting—but that's okay. Anyway, the Hyuuga girl is out with Itachi to help him sort out our subordinates that were in disguise yesterday; so we've basically got nothing to do at the moment," said Kisame. "I was thinking about giving you some training, but I reckon seeing young lovebirds making love is probably more interesting. After all, he's about to depart his life; so you might as well enjoy it while it's possible."

"Wha—no! Lecher! I-I mean... we're not... lovebirds. We're just friends, yes, obviously," stuttered Kiba, feeling some heat crawling up his face and fretting over the fact that he lost his composure. "So, about the training—"

"I'll have to examine your strengths and weaknesses first," said Kisame. "Itachi agreed last night that instead of him training you and me training the Hyuuga girl, since you're the same type as me—the muscleman type, and she's the same type as him—having special eyes and whatnot, I'll be the one to train you while Itachi'll be on her, although obviously last night the instatement's order was the other way around. At any rate... what's your name again?"

"It's Kiba, Kiba Inuzuka," he answered.

"Right—Kiba. You'll call me Kisame-shishou from now on," said him, laughing. "Oh my, Akatsuki members turning ninja instructors."

"Okay, Kisame-shishou," spoke Kiba, getting up, feeling rather bright.

"Alright!—you lot get up and get ready and all; the Hyuuga girl's cooked something nice too—having apprentices isn't bad after all. Meet me outside the house once you're ready, but don't take too long 'cause I don't like waiting. One more thing—it's possible for your village to have sent some people to pursue us; but I'll tell you what to do later if it does happen."

With that, Kisame turned and left the room.

Kiba rested on his right knee beside Naruto and poked him in the shoulder as he asked, "Why are you playing possum anyway?"

"H-how did you know?" spoke Naruto, opening his eyes. And then he laughed timidly and said, "Well—I was just curious to know why you and the shark-guy were talking about love—like, of all topics. Too bad I didn't get to hear about the lucky person—is it Hinata? You like Hinata?"

"Clot," said Kiba, slightly frowning.

"You know what?—this is the right opportunity of escaping for me," said Naruto with enthusiasm as he asssumed a sitting position. And then, frowning, averting from Kiba, he said, "But how can I possibly leave you? You're the clot who thought of this stupid rescue-Naruto-by-joining-Akatsuki thing in the first place!"

"We'll have a better chance if we encounter the pursuers our village might've sent," said Kiba. "But of course, we won't leave without Hinata. Damn. Ah well—be that as it may, we gotta get up now."

Said girl was with Itachi, inspecting his subordinates that he had brought the night before to secure the festival in disguise as Anbu members. She had come to a forest near the village with her head donned in a hood as an attempt to conceal her face—at least it seemed to work well to conceal her eyes.

Standing beside Itachi on a tree's branch, she nervously glanced in the direction of the ninjas who were kneeling on the ground in front. She was not nervous about the presence of Itachi, her new instructor; it was because she had a feeling that one or more of his subordinates were fake and sent by her village to spy them. It was perhaps a mere intuition, she thought as she brought herself to have some self-assurance.

She dared herself to use Byakugan, nonetheless, to examine all the ninjas in front whose uniform had made it rather difficult to differentiate them. She decided to aim her focus on their equipment first, surveying their patterns of shapes; and having noticed that only two out of fourteen persons had untwisted kunais with a Leaf symbol—kunais that were in general only used by ninjas from the Hidden Leaf, she immediately informed Itachi in a whisper, "I-I think two of them are fake."

"Which ones?" asked Itachi, slightly surprised at the intelligence despite his unwavering looks.

"Se-second from the left in the first row a-and the rightmost one in the last row," said Hinata. "Their equipment have a Leaf symbol."

"Excellent," said Itachi, raising his right arm and pointing its forefinger in the direction of the fake whom Hinata mentioned first in a manner which signified dignity. "This is my attendant; and I feel it necessary to examine her skills in advance. You are to fight her; and you may eliminate her if possible. The rest are to make sure no one runs away or gets in the way."

Hinata was surprised. She had expected to come into a fight against ninjas from her own hometown, but she had not expected it to be this soon. If a person were qualified to be sent to spy Akatsuki, it would probably be a Jounin, she considered. She was not sure whether she could win a fight against a Jounin, but she had come this far, and she, notwithstanding, had to survive till the day she had saved Naruto—the mere thought of saving him boosted her determination.

She jumped off the branch down to the ground. The ninjas in front of her except the one she would fight had the battle area cordoned off in a circular form. Having a stance, she quickly activated her Byakugan to examine the chakra flow and points of her opponent. Judging from the movement of his hands and chakra flow, she quickly noticed that her opponent was about to cast an illusion genjutsu.

Had she not have Byakugan, what she saw would have been a place thick with fog and horrid, body-less human heads circling around her—she could sense it, but she did not fall for the vision trick. Her opponent was about to invisibly thrust her in the back from behind with a kunai when she released chakra through all her chakra openings to free herself from the rather disturbing genjutsu; and then, swiftly, she turned backwards and deflected the kunai. She rapidly landed hits into three of her opponent's main chakra points in the torso with both her index finger and middle finger to directly close the main sections from which chakra were distributed to other points. Following immediately, she hit the middle of his chest using her gentle fist technique by releasing the maximum amount of chakra into her fist to directly damage the organs beneath the skin.

Her opponent fell prostrate as he coughed a good deal of blood. He could feel himself struggling to release chakra, immediately realising that some of his chakra points had been closed, that his opponent was most likely a Hyuuga.

"I forfeit," he spoke.

"Very well—now you and your comrade may return to your village and tell your superior that both the Hyuuga and the Inuzuka heirs are under my hypnosis," said Itachi, to everyone's surprise—Hinata's especially.

The excuse was certainly better than being conceived as a traitor, she thought as she dazed out, looking at the birds freely flying, for the first time feeling satisfied to have succeeded when needed.

"Give the captain the money," spoke Itachi to Hinata in reference to the payment of all his subordinates upon the departure of the two Leaf spies.

Hinata fished into her jacket's pocket a pouch containing slivers of money and gave it to one of the ninjas whom she supposed to be the captain, considering the outfit.

"Dismissed," said Itachi.

After saluting, all his subordinates quickly left, leaving only Hinata on the ground and Itachi in front of her, still standing on a tree branch.

"Do you happen to know why Byakugan and Sharingan are on the same level?" Itachi asked upon making sure that they were alone.

"I-I'm not sure. In terms of insight, the Byakugan is superior to Sharingan, but Byakugan doesn't have the capability to copy a jutsu at sight as Sharingan does," answered Hinata with composure. "Also, Sharingan can be used to cast an eye jutsu. Therefore, in my opinion, Sharingan is on a level higher than Byakugan."

"It's not in fact correct, as the Sharingan capable of casting an eye jutsu is Mangekyou Sharingan, which in itself surpasses the original Sharingan," said Itachi. "And do you happen to know that Byakugan has as well different levels that can be attained?"

"Yes—vision range aside, the first level of Byakugan allows the user to, bespeaking the human body, see the inner coils and the second level the opening points," said Hinata, wondering for the first time if there were any higher levels. "B-but that's all I know."

"Due to Byakugan's nature and the special taijutsu of the Hyuuga clan, even Mangekyou Sharingan is almost of necessity unable to affect a Hyuuga, provided that it is an accomplished one," said Itachi. "Normally, Byakugan is only used for its insight ability; however, although the practise has long since ceased, it can also be used to cast an eye jutsu and foresee a person's action in the nearest of future."

Hinata was struck nonplussed. How would an Uchiha know more than a Hyuuga about the abilities of the advanced blood abilities that the Hyuuga descendants exclusively possessed?—she wondered.

"It is a ninja's responsibility to be constantly alert; and thus the use of Byakugan's foreseeing ability is deemed impractical, not to mention that it takes a large amount of chakra to perform. And unlike Mangekyou Sharingan, Byakugan can only be used to perform ninjutsu," Itachi continued.

"H-how did y-you know?" Hinata spoke her mind. She was amazed, and thrilled at the prospect of being able to perform ninjutsu with Byakugan.

"The leader of Akatsuki is a Hyuuga," answered Itachi. "Only those who have fought with him and survived are qualified to be the real members of Akatsuki."

There was silence for a moment. It seemed to Hinata that Itachi was waiting for her response—her decision.

"What should I do to be able to perform ninjutsu by Byakugan?" she asked.

For she could stand it no longer. She might not be a genius like her cousin Neji or the leader of Akatsuki, but there was nothing to stop her from wanting to learn to be able to perform it. She believed that just as Mangekyou Sharingan had been one factor that elevated Itachi's power to so high a level, so too would Byakugan's advanced ability to execute ninjutsu be on hers. She was determined to prove to her Hyuuga superiors, friends, and instructor that she could be a great ninja and save Naruto, whomever from she would learn how to do so—that was her ninja way.

"By means of Sharingan, I was able to see how our leader did it. Byakugan comprise a great number of tiny chakra points beneath the cornea which are all activated by simply channeling chakra into your eyes. The more chakra used the greater the extent of your vision is and the deeper you can see inside a person's chakra system. However, to be able to use Byakugan to execute a ninjutsu, you need to know how to activate those chakra points partially. Rapid succession of channeling chakra to separate points in your Byakugan to form seal symbols will allow you to perform a ninjutsu furtively," said Itachi. "Activate your Byakugan and look me in the eye."

Hinata obeyed; and before she was able to comprehend why, Itachi had used Tsukuyomi on her. She could clearly see that in front of her then was a genjutsu; and by means of channeling chakra to certain chakra points, she could free herself from its effect. She did not do so because she realised that it was not meant to harm her, and instead, what she saw then was Itachi in battle against a man in a grassland during sundown; Itachi clad in his Uchiha uniform and his opponent in a cloak with a swirling cloud pattern—a cloak that had become a trademark of Akatsuki. It surprised her that Itachi's opponent looked very young—looked like he was aged the same as her; his hair was a tangle of long, spiky, white locks; his body slender, not taller than hers; and his eyes pigment-less. He was the leader of Akatsuki, she bewilderedly supposed.

She knew what to do. She used her best Byakugan to study all activities in the chakra system of Itachi's opponent. Like what she had heard from Itachi earlier, judging from the chakra activity in his opponent's eyes, she found that the chakra points inside the right one were only partially activated while the left one had all of them activated for Byakugan's visual purposes, although she could not see further than what result it brought to the right one—different shapes of light flashing inside. She could not see the process of the partial distribution of chakra he did inside the eyes.

Upon finishing the invocation, the sky became dark and clouds swirled up above, forming into one humongous cumulonimbus; and then several streaks of lightning struck down in the direction of Itachi (but they were effortlessly dodged), followed by, from the cloud's pivot, the descent of an enormous, demonic-looking and at once also beautiful, black hawk, whose white tail extended down twice its height and was filled with a great deal of chakra. It was a summoning jutsu, Hinata thought, quite in awe seeing such an astonishing creature, which was perhaps a great deal too almighty for her to manage to stay whole had it been her enemy.

Suddenly everything vanished. What she saw afterwards was the place where she was supposed to be—the forest in which she had settled with Itachi. She looked upwards at him, supposing that it was all that he wanted to show her.

"I could have used Mangekyou Sharingan to distract him if I pleased, letting such a complex summoning jutsu fail; but I wanted to see by myself what it was capable of," said Itachi. "While you don't have as much chakra as your two comrades do, your acceleration, wits, taijutsu skills, and use of chakra are urbane; therefore, you are ready to advance into this new leap. Your first assignment is finding out how to channel chakra into your Byakugan partially. For now, however, we will return to the village."

"Y-yes," said Hinata. She was confident that she would accomplish the task, for being a Hyuuga naturally caused her to be very in with chakra management. She decided to try it as they headed towards the village.

Kisame, Naruto, Kiba, and his dog, however, were heading towards the opposite direction, from the village through into the forest.

It was a splendid morning too, thought Kiba, as was the thought of learning new jutsus from his new instructor, Kisame. Like what often happened in fictional adventure novels, life struck anew by learning skills from a villain and emerge should an almighty hero. There no longer was fumbling—no hesitation in him. Swerving accurately, running smoothly, noiselessly, treading the apposite branches of trees and avoiding the reminders precisely at the right instants, he followed his instructor into the deeper parts of the forest. His crush, however, did not look at all enthusiastic or orderly in the way he was travelling. At the rate it was going, he might end up finding his crush unworthy of saving, he jested to himself in mind; and he straightaway felt guilty to even be able to think so—he liked him, and he was not stopping—and why was he suddenly obliged to insist?—he wondered. Yes. He was smitten by the blond. Hardly had he finished thinking than his instructor and Naruto stopped running just ahead. And then, rather intuitively, he stopped as well. His train of thought, however, did not stop until he chuntered, "You're stupid, Kiba."

"Fancy! You've just realised?" said Naruto, rather loudly.

"Not more so than you," said Kiba. "But still there must be some good in being stupid!"

"I know!" replied Naruto, suddenly looking fairly bright. "I've always thought so!—and I'm staying stupid, full stop."

"You know what?—we're stupid because there are smart people. We gotta blame them," said Kiba, grinning.

"That's a well-thought commentary," replied Naruto. "Um, that makes you a smart person then."

"But you can't blame me," said Kiba. "Because I'm the one who thought of that very idea—don't you agree, Akamaru?"

"Arf!" replied the dog, frivolously agreeing Kiba's point of view.

"Attaboy!" Kiba cheered his Akamaru.

"Of course," said Naruto, smirking at Kiba.

"Shut it. You're both obviously stupid," reprimanded Kisame, feeling rather afraid about the prospect of his intelligence plummeting by only being around the two boys.

"Um, I can smell the scent of Hinata and Itachi," said Kiba.

"Leave them be," said Kisame. "They must've finished their business and are returning to the village. Now it's your turn—let's see you fight against the fox boy."

Naruto scanned Kiba, finding this battle recalling that of his past battle against him during the Chuunin exam. He knew that the both of them were short-range combatants of the type that depended mostly on strength and speed. The goal was to create a situation in which he could use Rasengan to directly damage him; and judging from his opponent's speed, it was not bound to easily happen; therefore, for the time being, he decided that he would use Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to create clones and handle him until the opportunity came. Smiling, he scanned him again and formed a hand seal; and then he said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a different hand seal, Kiba returned Akamaru into its actual size, which was twice his own. Seeing all the eight clones of Naruto advancing, he jumped and flipped backwards, turning himself upside down with his right hand on the ground, providing support for his body; and then he spun himself as he kicked the first four clones at once, causing them to vanish. The remaining four clones were already near him, having him in their hitting range; and they were about to throw a punch each when he focused some chakra in the right hand and discharged it, causing him to propel high and the impact to scatter the clones in their opposite directions.

And then he saw several kunais heading in his direction.

Naruto knew that it was difficult to dodge while in the air, thus he impelled them then. He had planned to use Rasengan once any of the kunais hit Kiba, as he would slow down momentarily at that point in time.

Kiba, however, understanding the circumstance, sent for Akamaru to snatch all the kunais a Naruto had impelled. He trampled against a tree's branch and made a bolt for the Naruto who threw the kunais, throwing a direct punch against his face. And then that Naruto vanished.

Two other Narutos ran towards Kiba from different directions, their hands ready to throw a punch, leaving one last Naruto in the distance. It was Naruto's hasty attitude that often was his biggest factor to lose a fight, he thought, waiting for the two to become closer—for his opportunity of being able to hit them both at once. And when the opportunity came, he crouched and, utilising his left foot as a pivot, he swiftly extended the right one to tackle the one behind and afterwards spun himself to as well tackle the other in front, causing the both of them to vanish.

It gave a chance for Naruto, however, to rush forwards and form Rasengan in his right hand. His opponent was already in his hitting range, and he was confident that this one would definitely hit him.

Sensing danger—the great amount of chakra Naruto put into his Rasengan and that his only option was to either shield himself with both hands or punch him in the lower body—which was risky, as it was very likely then for the compact tornado to end up hitting both him and his crush. And then he noticed that Naruto was grinning.

"One-nil!" said Naruto, standing still, dispersing his Rasengan, knowing that Kiba had lost and that if he continued, his friend could lose an arm—or even die.

"So you had been waiting for me to lose it so you could use that technique, eh?" Kiba said, raising him body, dusting off his pants. "Nice one."

"Na uh—your moves were really cool I thought I was never gonna get the chance to use it," replied Naruto, grinning at Kiba.

"Good taijutsu indeed," commented Kisame, who was then standing on a tree branch. "Was your teacher the Hidden Leaf's Green Beast?"

"No—it's Kurenai-sensei," answered Kiba. "She's actually pretty good with taijutsu."

"Ah, her. She fought against Itachi once," said Kisame, jumping down onto the ground. "At any rate, you're not as stupid as you seemed to be just before the fight."

"Um, thanks," muttered Kiba.

"So, between water and ice, which element do you like better?" asked Kisame.

Kiba thought for moment before saying, "Ice."

"Alright—from now on, you're going to learn ice-elemental jutsus and their characteristics, so you could use them to complement your fighting style," said Kisame.

"Ice-elemental jutsus?" asked Kiba.

"Yes—like Uchiha specialises in fire, my clan specialises in water and ice," said Kisame. "I personally prefer water though."

"I mean, give me an example of an ice-elemental jutsu," said Kiba, rather delighted.

"You could turn your dog into an ice being and everything he touched would freeze," said Kisame. "Or you could expel ice spikes, or you could have a contract in blood with an ice being—a penguin, for instance. Further to it, you could do with some improvisation."

"Aha! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto enthusiastically. "I can summon a giant toad!"

"Uh... I don't want a penguin," said Kiba, imagining a giant penguin.

"Okay—penguin it is then," said Kisame. "However, in order that you could summon a penguin big enough to be useful, you'd need to combine strength with your dog."

Kisame bit his right thumb, from which then some blood spewed. After quickly using the blood to draw seal on the left palm, he slammed it against the ground; and then the seals were carved on the ground and expanded into a huge collection of unreadable letters from which a puff of smoke blasted high in the air followed by the materialisation of an enormous penguin standing at about three metres tall with a white back and head and cobalt blue swirls on its breast—which looked like that of a tattoo,—and bringing a large scroll in its brown beak.

"Ohh—how cute!" shouted Naruto.

"It's alright for some, but... I think its colours are inverted?" said Kiba, dubiously watching the penguin waddling in his direction and lowering his head.

Kisame took the scroll, opened it, and put it on the ground. "You write your name in blood and press your and your dog's fingerprints further down there."

However much Kiba felt doubtful about the contract, he did as he was told.

"To summon one, channel chakra into your hand and do it the way I did just now or have your dog channel the same amount of chakra into its hand as you do and put them down at the same time," said Kisame. "The hand seals are dragon, bird, ox, elephant, and dog."

"Done," said Kiba, beginning to feel eager to give it a try. "Can I give it a try now?"

"Go for it," answered Kisame, putting the scroll back in his penguin's beak.

"Let's do it, Akamaru!" Grasping the front right limb of his dog with his left hand, he sent for it to produce a good deal of chakra into that limb; and then, deeming the amount sufficient, he thoroughly channeled the same amount in his right hand before forming the hand seals and both putting that hand and, with the left one, motioning his dog's front right limb down onto the ground.

An outburst of cold smoke and appeared a huge penguin—only slightly smaller than the one Kisame summoned. The first thing that Kiba noticed was that his penguin was, in the first place, darker in colour, with its back heather grey and its breast navy blue. It was pretty, if slightly scary—what with its bloodshot eyes, Kiba thought. That he could summon such a huge being gave him some spurt of sense of achievement, considering that it required nothing but a little amount of effort. He had the faintest idea of himself being indecisive, for he was delighted to be able to summon a penguin then while he had thought it lame theretofore; and again he recalled the gruesome case of whether he liked Naruto. Kiba, at the age of sixteen, summoned a huge penguin... and discovered his sexuality—astounding?—he jested to himself.

"Kiba?" called Naruto, tapping his shoulder, gazing him in the eye. "Granted it's a great success, but stop dazing out."

"I bet your first summoning failed?" said Kiba, promptly feeling very aware of Naruto's touch. For a moment, he felt the world spinning very fast around him—it perhaps had something to do with the touch. It was true, however, that the day went rather fast then—in only two hours since he woke up, he had discovered eventful things.

"Um, yeah," answered Naruto, averting his eyes from Kiba. "It was a tadpole. It was much harder than I thought it would be."

Kiba chuckled at that.

"Brother?" asked Kiba's penguin, waddling towards Kisame's penguin. "Did this guy also call you?"

"Nah—it's Kisame," answered the other penguin.

"So what are we here for in the first place?" asked Kiba's penguin, glancing around, probably looking for an enemy.

"Um, I just wanted to give the jutsu a try," said Kiba, facing his penguin. "I'm Kiba... and this is Akamaru—we're the ones who summoned you."

"Pleased to meet you, Kiba-kun" said his penguin, rather expressionlessly. "I'm Masashiro. If that's that, I'll make my way home now."

Upon Kiba's nod, the penguin said, "Till then." And then it vanished, leaving only a diluting puff of smoke around.

"I'm going home too if there's nothing more," said Kisame's penguin.

Kisame nodded at his penguin; and it vanished in the same manner his brother did.

"Good," said Kisame. "To be able to summon Masashiro, you must be pretty good. I suppose that's all for today. I'll give you some jutsu scrolls to read later. For now, let's return to the village."

"Thanks... Kisame-shishou," said Kiba, rather awkwardly, even though he was feeling very thankful about the experience he had given him. Turning his look back at Naruto, he smiled.

For Naruto, if not for his passion for Naruto, he would do anything to save him—he would lure, trap, and kill; he would be strong; he would tell a lie; he could even be viciously unkind; and he would wait and endure patiently like a chrysalis.

Smiling, he said, "So... you still owe me a meal."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED  



	3. Chapter 03: Afternoon Sundries Part 1

**Narutopolis**

Chapter 03: Afternoon Sundries – Part 1

Rating: T  
Pairing: Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki  
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Also, thanks, goM, for proofreading the first two chapters. I put some more notes at the very end of this document. You needn't read 'em.  
Disclaimer: I'm on my way to perfecting this 'steal the Naruto' jutsu. Till then, Naruto isn't mine.

* * *

It was surprising, Kiba thought, how the village which seemed very quiet and sparse in the morning had come to be so hectic and full of strident sounds which bored into his ears—the sound of the heavy tread of busy feet; of objects of various sorts brushing, hitting one another; and of people talking—on the whole, of people walking the talk. Behind him was Naruto, bouncing cheerfully by pressing his shoulders with the hands—walking the talk as well, he mockingly supposed; and he knew that Kisame was somewhere round following them. 

Seeing no signs of pursuit from the Hidden Leaf, Kisame had given the both of them two hours to have a stroll about the village before leaving—given his presence to oversee them. Naruto had asked for Hinata's company; but Kiba, firmly refusing the presence of a rival in what he admitted to himself had become a love competition—as it were—in which the blond bloke was the prize, insisted that she wanted time to resolve the task which Itachi had assigned her. Hinata might not even know about it; and he felt guilty for treating Naruto as an object of possession, but he wanted to be as selfish as possible as regards him on his birthday. Also, he had left Akamaru at the lodging in her care.

What a lark it was, however; for, how much effort he put to retain him notwithstanding, he had to retain all those thoughts to himself as well, too inertial and credulous to expect any sort of new experience—no, he was merely too credulous he firmly believed that Naruto would never reciprocate him if he had confessed. It reminded him of a song which he often heard at seaside of the Fire country when travelling; and it probably was imported from another country, as the title suggested a place's name rather nonstandard according to the local naming convention—its title was Scarborough Fair. And so he glanced upwards as he tried to recall its lyrics, crooning, "Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and... turnip?"—was that it?—"No—parsley, sage, rosemary, and... thyme,"—more like it,—"Remember me to the one who lives there... he once was a true love of mine."

Sweet symbolism, he thought, smirking inwardly about the existence of somebody else with a plight similar to his, as the words' meaning suggested similarity, in a way, to his passions for Naruto—full of hope but at once pessimistic to the extent of almost being delusional?—well, he preferred to think it similar in the way it was moody, yet joyous; for it reminded him of time, of seasons, of something unceasing—as was his adoration for Naruto, he fathomed. "Tell him to make me a cambric shirt. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Without no seams nor needle work, then he'll be a true love of mine."

"That's surprising. You've got a nice voice," exclaimed Naruto, interrupting Kiba's inner spate of melancholy, renouncing pestering his shoulders. "And what's that song? It's nice—kinda unusual."

"Oh—um—it's Scarborough Fair," said Kiba, rather hesitantly. "I guess such a revelation coming from a fellow shinobi tends to infallibly surprise others, eh? I don't think my voice is that nice, but I do like to sing sometimes. Maybe if I sing that song repeatedly, you'll... understand."

"Huh? What of it?" Naruto wondered. "You know—I'm not really good at making out the meaning of songs."

"Nevermind then."

"You're acting rather poncey lately," said Naruto, averting his look upwards. "You're like a mix of Sasuke and Sakura,—I know being the chalk and cheese that they are, it's hard to even put them in the same sentence—but, you know."

"Really?" choked Kiba, immediately feeling awkward then. "I guess I've just got heaps in mind lately."

Naruto was about to say, "I thought you're the same type as me—the witless kind," but he reconsidered his words and instead said, "So I noticed."

And then they turned round into an even more congested street, in which commercial activities flocked.

"Do you have any money about you?" asked Naruto, looking over the crowd for a brief moment, then at Kiba.

"Just a little. You?"

"Just enough to buy a few packs of ramen I guess." Naruto gave a slight pout and crossed his arms. And then, recalling his chest-thumping competition with the kunoichi of the sannin, he held the pendant of his necklace up and said, "Actually—who was it who told me?—Ero-sennin?—anyway, he said I could buy three mounts with this necklace that Tsunade gave me."

"Seriously?" asked Kiba, rather stunned.

"Hopefully," answered Naruto as he slipped the pendant back underneath his ginger tee, beneath which his headband was also placed, as had Kiba's been, so as to not reveal his identity. "But I guess I shouldn't sell it. So, what are we gonna do now?"

"I say we spend it on gear," said Kiba, glancing about the street among the structures. "I'm short of throwing blades myself. Let's see—over there."

They walked towards a building atop which a board saying 'The Fagure Ninja Arsenal' was attached; and a wooden building of noteworthy size it was, if its exterior rather bleak in the way the pair of adjoining sliding doors at entrance were shut (notwithstanding the small signboard, which was hung by the right-hand door, said open) and the outward windows screened by small, perpendicular partitions,—little did shine get through,—not in the slightest could they see the inside.

Even though the store was located in so busy a street, once Kiba was in front of it, he felt as if he were in a completely different world; for, like a shot it was, the store seemed to have swollen in size, while everything else round shrunk, slackened, and shamefully conceded to it. Or was he just being unusually sensitive? he wondered. Rather, he remembered feeling such languors when visiting other places on many different occasions; except his mind could rarely become so tortuous as it was then—with Naruto. At any rate, he felt deviant—poncey as Naruto had put it,—and was it not something bad?

Kiba opened the door and stepped into the building first as he scanned the vast arrays of ninja weapons and armour; and Naruto followed from behind. Another room with a board saying 'The Gagure Information Shop' above its door, which was back of the room in which they were, however, immediately gained their attention.

"Welcome to Fagure!" greeted a man who approached them with the cutest of smile, his looks prominent and spoke more than needed as outlines of his defiant, boastful fashion. He displayed a fairly innovative ninja ensemble whose design challenged the well-established ones; the plate, which typically was attached to a headband (as was the case with other ninjas'), was by the left chest, attached upright to the black, suede braces, which was worn over the shoulder, slided through the chutes round the 'waist' of the plain, charcoal-grey, suede, fly-less hip-huggers, and tied firmly at the back, its wastes falling to round the knee; his rib-length, thick, black, flannelly, polo-necked, sleeveless shirt with a silver imprint of a cloud on the back zipped up to the neckline, contouring the upper part of his trim torso, leaving the svelte abdomen and waist bare; his elbows decorated with randomly-tied, charcoal-grey ribbons, which seemed to serve as underlines for the black, symmetrical streaks of tattoo on either upper arms; a titanium chain round his neck; a tattoo of black, interconnected curves on his left cheek down to the jawline; a black, silken headband; a short, hilt-less sword—which looked more like a dirk—inside its titanium scabbard across a holder back of the shirt, near its lower edge; and a pair of suede balmorals of darker hues of grey,—all the colours silhouetted against his pale skin. "So much's I hate to do this, I hafta see your ninja credentials first—your ninja plate, for instance—prior to sellin' ya anything."

Kiba was not sure if it would be safe to show the man his headband's plate, which was scratched—for how much of a gagster the man was, what with his vernacularism inadvertently belittled what points being well-groomed had, not in the slightest did he look weak, Kiba measured; moreover, he did not bring anything else to prove that he was genuinely a ninja. Looking at the man's plate, he noticed the engraved Mist symbol that was as well scratched, which in turn caused him to wonder how the man, as a missing-nin, had had his store—and himself for that matter—intact without concealing that very identity of his. Puckering brows slightly, he alertly took from underneath his fishnet tee his headband out and said, "There are circumstances behind this."

"Of all the shady arsenals in all the villages in this country, you walk into mine! Aren't I lucky? You're the Inuzuka heir that Itachi and Kisame took, Kiba Inuzuka," said the man cheerfully. "And you must be Uzumaki Naruto, the nine-tailed jinchuuriki."

Of all the reactions to expect, Kiba came across the most surprising one, if at all expected. How could the information spread so quickly? he wondered. "H-how did you know?"

"Ah well, it's 'cause I'm the famous information hunter, Takehiro Kunieda," he said, gripping either sides of his hip and thrusting his face up. "Who's also a de facto member of Akatsuki."

"You don't want to be a sanctioned member, and yet you talk as though you're proud of it," said a white-haired figure who suddenly appeared behind Takehiro.

Although the room was poorly lit, both Kiba and Naruto could see the white eyes that the young man behind Takehiro possessed, much like the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan. He was only wearing a simple, white yukata and his hair looked damp from bath, but he emanated a great deal of charisma and air of authority.

There were many remarkable figures that Kiba had come across throughout his life; his father for being both a fully-fledged leader of the Inuzuka clan and a great, erudite father; the third Hokage for his kindness and determination to protect the Hidden Leaf village; the fifth Hokage for her medical skills, notable efforts to rejuvenate the village, and perpetual support for Naruto; Itachi for his beyond-measure skills and austerity; and so forth. None of them, however, had showed as much dignity as the man behind Takehiro. Invincible would be the precise word to describe him, Kiba inferred.

"Seiji," said Takehiro, seemingly losing his glee for a moment. He quickly put his jovial self on, however, and said, "Hey, you've woken up! You've even cleaned up!—or maybe something's just spattered on your head? Um well, anyway, Akatsuki's so cool, so naturally I love to be part of it. But I don't wanna have the responsibilities—that's all—oh, and I'm not interested in the power of those bijuus. By the way, quit poppin' up in that startling way—my customers gone scared."

"Right on—Come to think about it... I don't know what the world has come into: a jester in love with a group of pariahs and pariahs in love with a group of fiends," slandered Seiji with a sneer, which seemed to Kiba very natural in his face. Sighing, reviving his dignity, he turned his attention to Kiba and Naruto, who was chuckling. "Hello to you, Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun."

Fiends ate jesters; jesters annoyed pariahs; pariahs swayed fiends,—and so the hero knew not whom to save? Kiba inwardly added. No—the hero knew that he wanted to save one special fiend.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, looking Seiji in the eye, automatically engraving the image of his sharp, incandescent, colourless eyes onto his mind.

"He's the leader of said group of pariahs," said Takehiro in bare excitement. "The almighty Seiji Hyuuga!"

* * *

"Neji, use your Byakugan to look for Naruto," said Kakashi as they stopped their track right by the sparse, wooden gate of the village.

Neji did so; and once he had found Naruto and Kiba, he said, "He's together with Kiba and a... Hyuuga in a weapon store in the middle of this village. Itachi isn't with them, nor are Kisame and Hinata."

"A Hyuuga?" asked Kurenai, who stood next to Kakashi. "Wouldn't you know him then?"

"I don't know. He doesn't have a curse mark, meaning he's—" Neji stopped promptly as he recalled the story of a white-haired boy from an outcast branch house of Hyuuga who died straightaway after he was born. "If I'm not mistaken—no, there's no mistake—he's Seiji Hyuuga. He's long since considered dead."

He was able to recognise Seiji for he was the only Hyuuga to have white hair; and the story about his immediate death was rife for quite a while, especially among the clan's members.

"I've never heard of that name before," said Kurenai. "Could it be that he saved Naruto and Kiba?"

"I don't know," answered Neji.

"We meet again, Kakashi-san, Kurenai-san," said Itachi as he appeared in front of them in his usual Akatsuki cloak. "And you are Neji-kun and Sakura-kun, I believe."

"Where is Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata?" asked Kurenai. "And tell us what you intend to do to Kiba and Hinata."

"I have no intention to hurt them," Itachi assured her. "Rather, it's their own will to come along us."

"Report from Anbu has it that you hypnotised them. Which one is true?" asked Kakashi.

"It is yours to choose, as the instructors in charge of them, whether to reveal this intelligence to your village," Itachi answered.

"They must be here to save Naruto," Sakura inferred.

"Anyhow, we're here to bring all of them back to the village," said Kakashi, uncovering his headband from his Sharingan, looking over Itachi in the eye.

* * *

Kiba promptly found it hard to look Seiji in the eye as he realised that the gravity of the situation had suddenly increased greatly. Would he ever be able to save Naruto? he skeptically wondered, for he recognised straightaway how powerful and dangerous the man was—quite possibly more so than Itachi was.

"Y-you're... insanely strong already," spoke Naruto as he gesticulated anxiously, able to feel throughout his whole tingling body Seiji's strength. "Why—why do you still need the bijuus' power?"

Naruto was right, Kiba thought.

Seiji gave Naruto a brief intense look before saying, "With that brain of yours, I don't think you would understand why even if I told you."

"What the—at least I have the right to know, being your target!" cried Naruto prior to forcefully settling himself down, accustoming himself to what seemed like constant radiation of Seiji's power.

Takehiro cleared his throat and said, "Basically, he wanna be super powerful. Well, it wouldn't be that easy now that five of the nine have died and that many elite shinobis from different villages have been sent to eradicate the organisation."

"Kunieda!" yelled Seiji.

"Seiji!" retorted Takehiro playfully. Upon seeing Seiji's glower, however, he retreated and said, "I'll fetch some tea. By the way, why don't you all have a seat there?"

* * *

Having had measured their strengths and weaknesses and decided on roles and formations beforehand, Kakashi and Neji stood frontmost next to each other opposite Itachi, forming a sort of triangle; Sakura positioned herself several steps behind perpendicular to Itachi; and Kurenai at the extreme end, still in the formation's median. Sakura took the cue from Kakashi's self-duplication and hit the ground in front with her right forefinger, violently creating a long fissure in it that passed through Kakashi and Neji towards Itachi. Kakashi, having created three clones, relying on the ground knockdown as a distraction for Itachi, positioned one about two metres rightwards in front of him, one at the same distance rightwards behind him after tree, and one at the rear end covertly while Neji was using his 'Jyuukenshou: Hakke Kuushou' technique to draw the opponent towards himself. In an instant, Kakashi's rearmost clone transfigured into Kurenai while the real her transfigured into Kakashi and swiftly jumped towards Kakashi's clone which was back of a tree.

While the rearmost clone only used the common transfiguration, Kurenai used an advanced one that involved the concept of genjutsu and, simply put, was able to seem to others what they would expect to notice by senses from a clone of the real person into which she transfigured—even the demeanour. Its purpose was, of course, to deceive Itachi into thinking that she was staying away from the battle to prepare a genjutsu or to observe and wait for the right moment to cast it, thus, hopefully, could drive Itachi's attention to stay primarily to Kurenai and Kakashi's real self (for he could tell which the real one was). That in itself was so that she would have a better chance to cast an unexpected genjutsu unnoticedly.

Itachi, naturally having his Sharingan activated, sensing a trick but was not able to figure it out, created two clones and sent them towards Kakashi and his nearest clone while he sprang forwards over the fissure to attack Sakura—whom he thought had a role worth concerning, what with her outrightly attacking him—hopeful that he could unravel—or even spoil and exploit—the trick; although before he could reach Sakura, Neji, pleased that Itachi had fallen into their trick scheme, and confident that he could resist Itachi's genjutsu in any event, had started to assault him with his 'Jyuukenshou: Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou' technique while she backed away. The assault, however, was cut short after its second hit by a series of kunais which one of Itachi's clones threw and thereby forced Neji to dodge several steps away from his target. Soon after, Itachi used 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu' and emitted a huge fireball from his mouth that went in the direction of Neji and Sakura.

At the moment the fireball was nigh on to hit Neji, he released a good deal of chakra from all his anterior chakra openings to instantly stop it; and then he focused a great deal of chakra into his right palm and hit the fireball sideways, propelling it back towards Itachi.

Kakashi, seeing Itachi dodging it, and taking account of the buildings in which people might live behind Itachi, used his Mangekyou Sharingan to expunge the fireball. It was then when the clone of Itachi which had been facing Kakashi jumped to behind him and attempted to stab him with a kunai. It was, however, stopped by two kunais that Kurenai (who was still in Kakashi's form) threw—one hit the kunai in the hand of Itachi's clone, the other pierced the clone itself in the neck, causing it to vanish.

All of them quickly stopped their track and backed away for a bit as Itachi ceased his clone and said, "I have never seen anyone use Sharingan like so. All of you came into me as good teamwork."

* * *

"Is that true?" asked Kiba with reference to the mayhem within Akatsuki, sitting on the left chair in front of a desk as Naruto sat on the right one and Seiji walked towards the one back of the desk.

"Very much so," said Seiji as he gracefully, noiselessly sat. "There have been many shinobis offering themselves to fill the vacant positions; they all are unqualified, however. It looks like we've failed to spot many cruces while calculating our moves. The complete jutsu requires all the bijuus to be captured; and the extraction of one requires the participation of at least eight experts. In conclusion, you are to remain unharmed for the time being. It seems to me that instead of waiting for prospective candidates, Itachi and Kisame have taken the liberty to advance further by training you."

"In other words, you're staying human for the time being," jested Naruto, rather more to himself.

"You can say that again," said Takehiro, coming from behind with a tray carrying a teapot and four cups.

"Do they—Itachi and Kisame—know about... you being in this place?" asked Kiba.

"Why do you ask?" replied Takehiro.

"Well, Kisame's supposed to be overseeing us. If he knew you're here, seeing that we're also here, shouldn't he stop by this place?"

"They probably don't know that Sei's here. I'd think they know I'm here though," said Takehiro, pouring the tea into all the cups. "This is my store after all."

"Would that you could address me less indecently," snapped Seiji.

"Sei Sei Sei Sei!" nattered Takehiro. "That's exactly the main reason why I don't wanna join Akatsuki, otherwise I'll have to call you—what?—Hyuuga-sama?"

Poor Seiji, Kiba thought on the subject of him being constantly inveigled by Takehiro into losing his dignity; although, in spite of his retorts and the tone in which he expressed them, he did not seem to mind it much as he feigned. It probably was for his good as well that Takehiro was not a real member of Akatsuki—how would he command his subordinates with a gagster to pester him round through and through? Moreover, had he been Seiji, he would naturally be constantly absorbed by the gagster's raw, boyish physical attractiveness he would never have anything of priority done,—as described earlier, the gagster was very svelte and none of his muscles looked developed—and he seemed to purposely keep them just fit in that direction; his skin pale and radiant, contrasting to the black tattoos on either upper arms and on the left cheek; his raven, straight hair falling freely, seemingly unbound by the silken headband of the same colour; and his captivating, honest smile seemed to convey a great deal of drama,—there was none of that sense of femininity which could be so repulsive in men in his looks, however. Had he been Seiji, he would... be seeing him!—in a sexual context at least—with force if necessary, as such was his silly, supplementary thought. He was not that poor after all, Kiba concluded.

* * *

"I wonder what those brats are doing with that do-gooder though," muttered Kisame as he made his way back to the lodging, intent on taking Hinata to Fagure and helping Itachi beat the pursuers up.

Once he was in the lodging, he found Hinata practising her Byakugan.

"Come along," he said, his hand motioning her to come with him. "Bring the dog as well."

She turned her Byakugan off and went on to pick Akamaru up, albeit rather reluctantly, slightly worrying about what was to happen to her thereafter, for she was rather tired after fixing all the chores and training.

* * *

Disregarding the skit, Kiba asked again, "Then... knowing there's not enough people to do the extraction, why did Itachi and Kisame have to bring Naruto this—"

"It doesn't change the fact that we are still adamant to perform it; and so we ought to secure all the jinchuurikis beforehand—especially from Orochimaru. He has been trying to kill them. In the past, we used to always neglect him—we never saw him as a threat," said Seiji, holding close his cup of tea. "Lately word has it that he supplied information to many villages of our strengths and weaknesses, which is very likely why many of our foremost echelons had been defeated so easily. And so, now our main priority is to exterminate Orochimaru."

"That bastard Orochimaru!" yelled Naruto.

"Yes, that bastard Orochimaru," echoed Kiba. "Hah, wouldn't you know it. Your life's also in danger now that you're in Akatsuki's hands. In a way, it's thanks to Orochimaru that you're still alive now."

"Oh... I almost forgot," said Naruto. "Gah!—I'm so confused I don't know anymore whether it's the villain tried to rescue me or my saviour tried to kill me, but I know I hate Orochimaru."

Takehiro only chuckled at that as he sat on the leftmost of the desk in front of Seiji and towed his pants by the braces. Seiji, however, remained poised as he took a sip of his tea.

Ceasing his smirk, Kiba asked further, "It's a dangerous move though, isn't it? 'Cause as far as I've heard, a jinchuuriki can collaborate with the bijuu to have unimaginable power. Granted, Naruto's a dork, so even if there were nine of him combined, they would never be a threat for you. But if you held all the jinchuurikis at once, and some of them proved to be skilled—taking account of the number of strong members left in the organisation—wouldn't it be dangerous if they joined forces to oppose you?"

"I'm not a dork!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Equationally, three bijuus have been extracted, leaving six remaining; there are four remaining members of the organisation—five with Kunieda,—we'd still hold the upper hand if it happened," said Seiji. "At any rate, once we've killed Orochimaru, we could perhaps discontinue that move."

"Is there no way to extract the demon without causing the jinchuuriki to die?" asked Naruto.

"Technically, there is. But it requires even more people to perform," said Seiji. "It's far more complicated. About fifteen people at Itachi's level will be needed. Why, are you afraid of death?"

Naruto glanced at Kiba; and then, grinning whimsically, he looked back at Seiji and said, "My dream is to become a Hokage! So—yes—I don't wanna die just yet."

"Well, that's a formidable dream, but I don't see any other way for you but to surpass our skills if you don't want to die," said Seiji firmly as he smiled slightly. "I'll make it easier—you needn't defeat us all—if you could defeat Itachi in a one-to-one combat within six months, I'll let you go."

"I so will defeat Itachi then!" said Naruto, although he certainly felt doubtful if he could ever do so.

"I'll make it even easier," said Seiji. "I'll train you."

"What?" asked Naruto.

"As I said, I'll let you be my apprentice and you'll train starting tomorrow."

Naruto was about to shout something when Kisame, as well as Hinata and Akamaru, suddenly barged in.

"Seiji-san," spoke Kisame in surprise. And then turning his look to Naruto, he said, "Anyhow, surprise, surprise, some nosey parkers from your village have come and now are fighting Itachi."

Hinata was as well surprised to see Seiji, whom she quickly recognised as the leader of Akatsuki, for she had seen the man once before when Itachi showed her his battle against him. He had become much taller than when she saw her before, however; and he looked much more dignified, she thought. Just as encountering a God would make one feel wholly nervous and inferior, so too did her encountering Seiji. Furthermore, while God was supposed to be fair, Seiji seemed more to her to lean towards evil, for he after all was the leader of Akatsuki. Such dread, she thought.

"Who are they?" asked Kiba, patting Akamaru on the head.

"I saw Kakashi, Kurenai, a pink-haired girl, and another Hyuuga," said Kisame. "Seiji-san, I'll head off to Itachi now and help him do over them. I'm leaving this girl and the dog here, Takehiro."

"No need," said Seiji. "Naruto-kun, I'd like to see you help Itachi fight them so I could see if you're worth it."

"I don't want to," said Naruto firmly, crossing his arms. "Kakashi and Sakura are my teammates, Neji is my chum, and Kurenai-sensei is Kiba's and Hinata's teacher."

"You needn't injure them badly,—in fact, it won't even matter if you win or lose," said Seiji, rather unyieldingly. "If you intend to have the power whereby you would survive us, you're obliged to do this much. Is it not a terrific bargain?—such a little amount of imprest, considering how much I'll teach you and how little you're required to do."

Naruto frowned; he stamped his foot. He had to do it, since it was no longer solely about his well-being, and his inaction could possibly result in the death of his friends then, he thought. He had to put all unnecessary thoughts aside for the time being and fight Kakashi, Kurenai, Neji, and Sakura—or maybe only Neji and Sakura specifically and let Itachi handle the remaining two—the more difficult two.

"I don't suppose you would let me help Naruto?" Kiba asked Seiji, suddenly feeling very cognisant of how hope—for it was no longer viability—could show a scenery and lead people to sheer and do what otherwise would be considered reasonable; however, he felt it natural to help Naruto, despite the consequences. Alternatives where most possibly existent, but he could think of no other way but help him fight them then.

"Seeing his maximum potential concerns me; so it will be better if you stay still until you see him in a pinch," said Seiji.

"Despite however you put it, I still think you're kinda twisted," muttered Takehiro as he followed them walk out the store.

Passing through the crowd effortlessly, they quickly arrived near the village's gate, at which Kakashi, Kurenai, Neji, and Sakura were still fighting Itachi. Although none of them were injured, it was noticable that Neji and Sakura were starting to lose confidence that they could win the battle, Kiba observed.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura as she backed away from a clone of Itachi, surprised to see Naruto in the company of so many strong figures. Although she had heard that Gaara himself and his siblings would reach and backstop them later, she still felt rather skeptical whether even with their help they could defeat them, for she found Itachi alone nearly untouchable even by means of combining her strength with three other upstanding shinobis.

On the other hand, Neji's entire attention was fixed upon Seiji. He, as well as Kakashi, Kurenai, and Sakura, felt some overwhelming air of superiority leaking from him; and while it was fearsome, it also caused him to be eager to fight him and witness just how far a Hyuuga could develop, how great their hereditary, superior blood could be. And so he smirked in excitement.

"Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto was excited to see them, though he could not resist to feel awkward soon after once he remembered the reason why he had arrived there in the first place. "Neji, Kurenai-sensei."

"Naruto, Kiba, Hinata," spoke Kurenai gently.

"Kurenai-sensei," spoke the both of Kiba and of Hinata. And then Kiba said, "We're fine here, Kurenai-sensei. You needn't worry about us."

Was he insinuating that she should leave? Kurenai pondered. It probably was true that she should; for they were surrounded by figures most probably at Itachi's level.

"So you are Kurenai-sensei," spoke Takehiro, walking a few steps ahead towards Kurenai past the others.

"Yes I am. Who are you?"

"Just an information hunter. My name's Takehiro," he said, smiling amicably. And then he looked her in the eye. "Well, I'm just interested in your eyes. When I was exploring advanced bloods, I came across this intelligence about a family of extraordinary eyes whose origins extend back to the Hyuuga clan's research—the only ones that have been known to survive till today being Sharingan and Byakugan, while the others were sealed away. But after tracing further down lineages of those involved in the research and inspecting the research itself, I found out there's another one that's somehow survived; and you're the only one now to possess them, the Kokutengan. Well, too bad that's the extent of my knowledge of your eyes. I couldn't find any data on what your eyes can do or how to activate them; though, as the owner, you could probably figure out the way and develop techniques to support them! Also, Byakugan could probably see some sort of slight distinction in the way chakra regulates around your eyes."

Everyone looked at Kurenai with curiosity; and Neji and Hinata immediately activated their Byakugan to see into her eyes. They could see chakra points located oddly, but, as the eyes' ability was still inactive, such was the extent of exposure to those eyes that they could perceive.

Curiously, Kurenai looked at Neji. "What did you see?"

"Just unusual chakra points around your eyes."

"Well, that's all I've got to tell you. I look forward to discovering more about your eyes!" Waving his right hand, he walked back towards the space in-between Seiji and Naruto, who kept looking at him intently in wonder.

Silence dawned upon them for a while as they sank into their own trains of thought. Kiba thought it impossible for them to flee then that they had an owner of Byakugan to oversee them; Kurenai was very eager to discover more about her eyes, although she knew that it had to wait; Hinata wanting to cheer for Naruto and tell him that everything would eventually fall into place, but she was nonetheless also concerned about the notion of fighting his own friends; Kakashi planning to put a defensive fight if Seiji, Kisame, and Takehiro attacked till Gaara and his siblings came; Neji determining with Byakugan Seiji's, Kisame's, and Takehiro's attitudes as not taking any interest in fighting them; and Naruto, after forcefully disregarding his feelings, was simply waiting for some sort of signal to begin the fight.

* * *

Notes: I went on a business trip to several cities with my boif, thus couldn't update for so long. And it felt like I was a young executive or something, and writing a fanfiction would just ruin the image (;p), so I decided to suspend it until I got back, which was two days ago. Oh and since there were only several music albums in my boif's car, and they were all punk rock, I got to listen to them all the time and became used to that genre. The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Kaiser Chiefs (not really punk, not sure), and Blink 182 (I despise this one). I like The Clash most. I just don't pass a day without listening to The Clash nowadays. It's weird though. Cause my eclectic music taste previously leant mainly towards jazz, classical, and techno, and now I'm more into rock while my boyfriend has started abandoning rock in favour of classical and techno. 

Oh great, this is starting to sound like a blog instead of a note now. Be that as it may, because I don't have a blog. **This is a one-off anyway—the next chapters won't have notes anywhere this long.**

I hadn't used Microsoft Office for over a year till several days ago when I was forced to use it to make a Powerpoint presentation and unluckily found a copy of its installer. So I had a whim to see how similar a Word export from OpenOffice would look on M$ Word to the original ODT format would be. Well, as regards outlook, it looked fairly similar, except Verdana Ref 9 looked different on Word—looked like Arial. What shocked me was the downpour of jagged green lines through the entire document. I was like, woah, I suck at grammar, yeah (OOo Write doesn't have a grammar checker, btw). But then after I checked all of them out, I found out that most of them were considered wrong basically for being long. I find it easier to put a collection of thoughts into one sentence than to structurally separate them. Well, I got to find some minor sensible errors on my part too (for instance: politically-correct vs politically correct). Yar, I just suck at English, full stop—I still live in Indonesia after all! Anyway, the funniest part was when I right-clicked on the names, namely Kiba and Sasuke, M$ Word suggested Kebab and Sauce respectively—o how delightful, Kebab with Sauce! Isn't anyone gonna make a delicious KebabXSauce fic now?

Another thing to concern is Kiba's intense love for Naruto, which isn't reciprocated. Will there ever come a day when it stops being a one-sided thing? Maybe. I like Kiba, and it's not reciprocated either. No hard feelings now, Mr Inuzuka!

One proof-reader of this story's chapter 1 and 2 told me that while being descriptive was nice, my writing tended to more often than not only confuse her. And I suppose some of you feel the same as well? I don't really try to be descriptive for the sake of being descriptive. It's actually something to do with stream of consciousness. And while this fic is mostly centered round Kiba, I try my best to not cross the limits as a third person who only narrates, thus confining myself from ever commenting on anything within the story (that's why even a simple remark could get long; for instance, I usually prefer "Kiba thought Naruto was stupid" to just "Naruto was stupid"). I suppose you must've noticed it. Don't be surprised if you find Kiba talking about pastries in a chapter about Naruto being in hell later—nah, there won't be anything like that. I know it sounds boastful to talk about elements of style, considering my English is barely adequate to write anything, but I do try to conform to many writing rules listed on whatevawebsiteitwas. I have this natural sense of aesthetics that primarily causes me to dislike redundancy and inconsistency too (I guess it came from my study on good programming). Sometimes I feel rather cooped up, what with all these restrictions. Duh. But I honestly enjoy writing this fic very much.

Um, what's Kokutengan? It literally means 'black point eye'. Why Fagure, Gagure, and Masashiro? Fagure Froogle, Gagure Google, and Masashiro Maschile (penguin in Spanish). They sound similar! Who's Seiji for me? My Toushiro Hitsugaya (from Bleach) for this fic. Who's Takehiro for me? My Tenka Kou (from Hoshinengi) with the personality of Rangiku Matsumoto (from Bleach) for this fic. Thus ends my lengthy note.


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